


Neighbours

by Kaogasm



Category: Loki - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendly Loki, Gen, Loki is a good neighbour, Loki on Midgard, Neighbors, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, Oneshot, helpful loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26129710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaogasm/pseuds/Kaogasm
Summary: Loki is living among Midgardians and likes helping his neighbours. His new neighbour floods his bathroom and Loki goes to have a talk with them, ending up helping them and having tea instead.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	Neighbours

**Author's Note:**

> My apartment was flooded last week while I was on vacation. Came back to water and mold all over. Both insurance and housing companies trying to put the responsibility of compensation on the other. While taking a break from cleaning and drying, this idea came to me and I decided to post it.

It had been a few years after his failed invasion of Midgard. Loki had served some time in the dungeons on Asgard, until a time when Odin had called for him. A deal had been made with SHIELD, for him to be transferred to Midgard to continue his sentence there. He wasn’t too thrilled about it, but at that time, just the thought of leaving the dungeons was already a giant step into some improvement of his living situation.

At first he had been kept at an undisclosed SHIELD facility, in a cell not that different from the one he had spent years in on Asgard. Two bracelets over each wrist were used to dampen his magic, leaving enough juice for him to keep his Asgardian form and the simplest of spells, like healing and such.

What they couldn’t control was his wit and silvertongue. Even the Scarlet Witch wasn’t able to penetrate his mind when she tried. So SHIELD had decided to use that to their advantage, unknowingly playing into Loki’s grand scheme of things on his way to gain his full freedom once more.

Little did he know that his own manipulations would one day come to bite him in the ass.

He had become friends with the Avengers.

How tedious.

But it was too late for him to back out. He had made friends, and to his own dismay, he had found that he _liked_ it.

Within time he was granted a pardon, due to good behaviour and assisting SHIELD and the team of heroes during several missions, whether it involved aliens or not. His talents as a warrior were appreciated by all concerned parties, even if Fury wasn’t so keen on voicing his approval of the God’s improved attitude.

Loki was ecstatic when he learned he would be leaving the cell and would be granted a chance to live where and as he wished, even the bracelets were coming off. The only catch to it was that he was supposed to remain on Midgard until further notice. He didn’t mind it, much. It meant less dealings with beings who wanted his head on a silver platter and wouldn’t bat an eyelash when they got the chance.

Midgardians were quite the peculiar bunch in that regard. Years after the fact, they tended to forget faces and names if they didn’t get to see them often enough. This was definitely a good sign for the God of Mischief. Midgardians didn’t remember _him_ as being the oppressor, though the invasion itself still lingered in the memories of most.

He didn’t let it bother him at all. It wasn’t his fault that he ended up being controlled by the Mind Stone. Odin’s secrecy and Thanos were to blame. If anything, Loki was the victim here. And he used that to his advantage any time he saw the need for it.

He was given a job as a consultant for SHIELD, something to help him financially get on his feet and rent his own place. He had declined Stark’s offer to reside at the Avengers compound with the rest of them. He wanted some autonomy and freedom after years of being locked up, surrounded and heavily guarded by Einherjar or SHIELD agents.

It was ironic, though. Wanting freedom while a few years back he wanted to take that away from the people he was now residing among.

With some help, he had found a little apartment in the city they called New York. The building wasn’t too shabby, though it wasn’t luxurious either. He preferred that over the shiny skyscraper residential buildings, for reasons unbeknownst to him.

His friends had helped him settle in. Teaching him the ropes on surviving in the city that never sleeps. Well, they called it surviving. He called it living. He loved the constant chaos, bathed in it every evening he sat at the balcony. It was how Yggdrasil connected with him, feeding his magic.

Said magic came in quite handy within the building itself. Every time something broke and the superintendent wasn’t going to bother with it, he would offer help and the neighbours would gladly accept. Aliens were no more an issue for a city that housed mutants with several abilities. While some people were apprehensive about mutants, they were plain terrified of aliens. And Loki being an alien kept them out of his way, and thus, out of trouble. He would hate to have to explain to SHIELD why some neighbours had suddenly disappeared with no trace of them at all.

He was particularly fond of his next door neighbour. An old lady with silver white hair. Quite fit for her Midgardian age. At some point he would have thought her to be a mutant, but when asked, she told him she used to be an athlete and never stopped training, even after retirement.

He admired her resilience and dedication, so he offered to train with her in the mornings. Simply for having company. She had agreed.

Loki was enjoying life as one of the Midgardians, though with his lifespan and abilities, he was never going to be one, thank the Norns. But he appreciated the sentiment behind the thought. His neighbours considered him one of them, always having his back whenever the superintendent tried to outsmart him. Not that he could, but the thought of Midgardians having his back was somehow heart-warming. Especially due to the fact that there didn’t seem to be any hidden agenda behind it. They did it because they simply cared. Because they liked him. Because they were neighbours.

Loki was starting to allow himself to feel happy.

On a particularly calm November afternoon, Loki’s reading was interrupted with noise from upstairs. Someone was moving in, it seemed. He thought nothing of it and placed a sound dampening spell around his apartment.

Every time the spell would wear off, he would hear the noise again and would place the spell once more. That went on for days and he started getting tired of it

One afternoon, his reading was once again rudely interrupted by the noise from upstairs. He decided to go and check the source of it, to see if he can help with speeding up the settling in process. That is when he noticed water pooling around the bathroom door.

Mumbling curses under his nose, he walked over to examine the source and saw it was coming from the ceiling. He narrowed his eyes and sent the water back up. If they were not being careful with their renovations, he would have to have a word with them, and not the pleasant kind.

He didn’t want to use his magic in a day-to-day situation, opting to reserve it for better use. But sometimes, like that moment, it was needed. It also tempted him to just flood the above apartment, just like it was attempting to do his. But just sending the water back up was good enough.. for now.

All hell broke loose when in the next second he noticed water slowly pouring down from another corner of the bathroom. He sent that back up and magically sealed the ceiling. Whatever they were doing upstairs, they would have to deal with it alone.

He went back to the living room, and turned _livid_ when a drop of water hit his forehead. He looked up, the ceiling was leaking as well. How did Midgardians keep the building standing all these years if the ceiling was so fragile as to let water seep through?

He sent the water back up, sealed the ceiling within the whole apartment, lest another spot starts leaking, changed into appropriate Midgardian attire and headed upstairs, ready to knock some sense into whoever had dared to disturb his reading time.

As he walked the hallway upstairs, he came to a halt before the apartment right above his. The door was open and some water was pooled in front of it. He could hear sobbing and curses coming from the inside, with sounds of water being poured into what sounded like a bucket.

Loki knocked on the door, “hello?” he called before taking a tentative step in, the water magically dissipating wherever he stepped. He didn’t want to get his shoes wet. “The door was open.” He called again, making sure he didn’t go far inside without being invited further in.

His anger dissipated the moment he saw a young woman walk out from the bathroom, clothes wet and her shoulder length hair sticking to the sides of her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, wet from obviously crying for a while. She was holding a rag in her hand, which was dripping with water.

“I’m sorry for sounding rude, but this really isn’t a good time. Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested. Got a bit of a situation here, as you can see.” She motioned at the state of the place. A thin layer of water covered the apartment, and it looked like more was coming from the bathroom.

Loki dropped his shoulders as he watched her go back into the bathroom. He heard the sobs again, accompanied with what seemed to be gathering water with the rag and wringing it into the bucket, then emptying it into the toilet and repeating the process.

Sighing, he waved his hand at his surroundings and the water started retracting towards the bathroom. He heard a yelp and a thud, then the bucket rolling over. He walked over to the bathroom, keeping his hand stretched before him, guiding the water back to the source of the leakage. Damaged pipes under the bathtub, as it seemed.

Seeing what he was doing, she pushed herself further away from him on the floor, bringing as much distance between them as she could, until her back hit the side of the bathtub.

“Please don’t hurt me.” Her voice contained a shiver he recognized all too well. Fear.

He shook his head, “you’re safe.” He simply said and continued working his magic. Closing his eyes, he directed his seiðr towards the main problem, fixing the broken pipes within the walls. Then he opened his eyes and with a final wave of hand, the whole place was dry.

“That should do it.” He said, dropping his arm to his side and walking over to her. He reached out, with a gentle smile gracing his face. “I mean you no harm.” His tone was soft, friendly.

She took the offered hand and stood up, “thank you.” She wiped the tears and hair off her face. She looked around, the floors looked dry and she had no idea how that was possible. “Are you a mutant?” she looked at him.

“Jotun by birth, Asgardian by upbringing.”

“Asgardian? Isn’t that what Thor is? Like an alien?”

He nodded. “He’s my brother.”

She blinked a few times, remembering the news from a few years back. “You’re the one who led the alien invasion a few years ago.” She stated, taking a step back.

Loki was familiar with the reaction. Some people did still remember, after all. “Indeed I was. Now I live here. The apartment right underneath this one.”

She felt frozen to her spot and it didn’t help that her clothes were still wet and the main door was open, making the apartment feel cold and causing her to shiver slightly.

“Forgive my manners,” he chuckled and flicked his wrist and her clothes were dry, as well as her hair. “Better?” she nodded.

“Thank you.”

“It’s alright, I came here to complain about the water. It was leaking into my own apartment. Didn’t realize it was a much bigger problem. But it’s fixed now.” He smiled. “I’m Loki, by the way.”

“Vivian.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Vivian.” He smiled as they shook hands.

“Would have preferred meeting my first neighbour at better circumstances, though.” She chuckled, wiping her tear-stained cheeks. “But it’s nice to meet you too, Loki. And thank you for helping me with the leakage.”

“If you need any help at all, I have nothing to do for the time being.” He shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets.

“Uhmm.. Furniture is all placed, so I’m good. I was just unpacking when the water started pouring in. Thanks for the offer though.” She smiled. “I’d offer you a drink, but I have no idea which box houses my kitchen items just yet.” She chuckled.

“I can help with that, if you’d allow me.” He smiled, walking out of the bathroom and she followed.

“Uh.. yeah sure.” She had no idea how he would find the kitchen boxes, which she should have labelled but had forgotten to do so for some reason.

Loki stood in the living room, surrounded by boxes and closed his eyes. He raised his palms and took a deep breath. Slowly, the boxes around him started floating. Four of those separated themselves from the others and made their way to the kitchen. The rest of the boxes gently came back down to where they were before and Loki opened his eyes and turned to her. “Kitchen items are in the kitchen.”

Vivian raised an eyebrow. “That’s pretty useful. Thanks.” She smiled, making her way to the kitchen and he followed.

“So, coffee? Tea?” she opened a box, closed it and opened another one and took out her little box of coffee beans, followed by the tea box and set them on the counter.

“Tea would be nice.” He took a seat at the kitchen island while she took out the electric water kettle.

“Any preferred taste? I’ve got a few.” She handed him the tea box and he went through the options while she boiled some water.

He chose a simple green tea with lemon and took out the little tea bag and set it in front of him. She then took out two mugs, the jar of sugar and spoons from one of the boxes and set them on the island.

Once the water had boiled, she poured some in both mugs, rinsing them first before she filled them up and handed one to Loki. “Sugar and a spoon, if you need some.”

“None for me, thank you.” He smiled as he opened the pack and dropped the tea bag into his mug.

She chose one for herself, opting for berry flavoured tea. “I don’t use sugar in my drinks either. But I keep it for company.”

“I find that it changes the taste quite a bit.”

“It does!” she beamed. Finally someone who spoke her language! “Everyone thinks I’m crazy for not taking sugar in tea or coffee! It ruins the taste!”

Loki chuckled. “True.”

After some random talk and a second cup of tea, Loki bid her farewell and went back to his apartment. He found the mortal’s company quite pleasant. For some reason, he couldn’t wait to tell the old lady next door about their new neighbour.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are much appreciated!


End file.
